Topic: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

[UncleBob]

Well, I thought this could be an interesting topic.  I work in retail (Wal*Mart) and, although I don't technically work in Electronics, I pretty much take care of the video games (working in the Connection Center, I tend to have the free time to do this and the Electronics Department Manager doesn't mind, since it gives her free time as well).  I thought I'd start a topic about what's selling well and see if anyone else here works retail and what y'all are seeing selling well.

Of course there's the big winners of Wii and PS3.  We can't keep either in stock - when we rarely get them.

The 360 is selling, although slowly.  I think we sell more PS2's than 360s.

Game Boys... dang.  The Game Boy micros didn't sell very well for Black Friday - we've got a ton left... but GBASPs... wow.  We pretty much sell *out* of the blue and pink ones when we get them in (rarely now).  The black one has stayed in stock, but we had tons of those and we're starting to run low on 'em.

We get tons of calls about DSes (?).  Apparently, most places are out of stock on them.  We finally sold out of the Grey Phats and have a few blues left.  The Pink and Black DSLite is impossible to get (selling out the day we get them in, pretty much) and the white DSLite is slowly depleting.

PSPs... heh.

Game Wise?  Guitar Hero II is the big winner here.  We sold about 40 copies of this thing in a week.  At $80 a pop, that's pretty impressive.  Had we not sold out, we could have sold a lot more.

Unfortunatly, Madden 07 sells well.

Cars and Over the Hedge are pretty good sellers.

No big PS3 winners.  No big Wii winners either (except, of course, Zelda).  There really doesn't seem to be any big 360 games either... even Gears of War has sold pretty crappy.  I think I've sold one PSP game - so Madden 07 is the winner there.

On the DS/GBA front, Nintendogs is still selling well - in fact, Dalmations is the only one we've got left.  All the Mario games are selling well, of course.

Strangly enough, we get a lot of people looking for original XBox controllers.

[Ian Sane]

"Cars and Over the Hedge are pretty good sellers."

*sigh*  Remember the good old days when if kids wanted a game based on Duck Tales or Ninja Turtles the game was made by Capcom or Konami so it was actually GOOD and worth buying.  One thing I really dread about having kids in the future is warning them that most licenced games are horrible, only for them to insist I get it for them and then having to see how incredibly disappointed they are in the incredibly sh!tty game they forced their father to buy.

[JonLeung]

Ian, I think a lot of kids are still casual gamers.  Even if they spend too much time playing them, they're not actually going on the Internet and keeping track of what games are coming out or whatever.  Their experiences with discovering new games are probably relegated to whenever they go to the video rental place or the store, or TV commercials when the game is already out.

Something like Cars or Over The Hedge are already advertised to them via other means.  Because there's a film (and those generally have high advertising budgets) they'll recognize Hammy or Lightning McQueen or whoever on a game box sooner than they might see Link or Samus.

But moreso than that are the parents that actually buy the games.  You really think the average parent knows about games?  If they're not sure of what games their kids will like they think it's a safe bet to get a game based on something that they themselves recognize.  I haven't seen Cars yet but I imagine as a film it's a good one, and like any other Pixar film everybody enjoys or at least recognizes them.  A lot of adults (well, I'm an adult...okay, let's say 40+) don't know of the Legend Of Zelda.  Seriously.  Best game franchise ever?  Twenty years of great games?  Sure, whatever.  But, hey, Cars, that's a hoot, they saw it with their kids on DVD and enjoyed it.  If the parents don't know the difference between a good game and a bad game, then the kids might not know any different either, and sales of licensed games will continue.

Not all licensed games are bad.  I did enjoy Duck Tales.  And a few other games.  But most are simply cash-ins, and it's idiocy to pick up Happy Feet instead of Zelda.

If you were a parent, Ian, and you clearly know better, and if you become a good enough parent so as to be a major influence, something as simple as game preference really shouldn't be too hard to instill in your kids.  You could always rent a few bad games...money well spent if it means avoiding full purchases of similar games in the future.  (I can't believe my OLDER brother rented Shrek: Super Slam...but, hey, it's a rental, I don't have to live with the stigma of owning a Shrek game.)

"Remember, Ian Jr.  Say no to drugs, don't smoke, don't talk to strangers, look both ways before crossing the street and if there's a game based on a movie, no matter how good the movie is, you would be better off not associating with anyone who plays the game.  The game sucks and so do they."

[Ian Sane]

"Remember, Ian Jr. Say no to drugs, don't smoke, don't talk to strangers, look both ways before crossing the street and if there's a game based on a movie, no matter how good the movie is, you would be better off not associating with anyone who plays the game. The game sucks and so do they."

That's pretty much exactly what I'd say except I wouldn't name my son "Ian" and it leaves out the part where I warn him about direct-to-video movies and the pain they cause, even if they're a sequel to a Disney Classic.

[Ceric]

UncleBob just send your customers to Cookeville, TN.  We always have DSLites in stock of all varieties.  (Though next time I'm in Wal*mart I'll look again.)

[UncleBob]

If they do, I'm impressed... even WalMart.com is out of stock on all DSLites...

http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_constraint=0&search_query=DS+Lite&Continue.x=0&Continue.y=0&Continue=Find&ic=24_0

[vudu]

Quote
Originally posted by: JonLeung
I haven't seen Cars yet but I imagine as a film it's a good one

I made that mistake, too.  So did millions of other Americans.

[Ian Sane]

"I made that mistake, too. So did millions of other Americans."

I liked it.  It was easily the worst Pixar film I had ever seen but I overall would consider it a good film.  It's a little too generic though and comes across more as a typical kids film than Toy Story, Monsters Inc. or The Incredibles.  It's good enough to keep Pixar's good movie streak going but I will admit that if their next few films are of similar quality they'll officially be in a slump.

[Ceric]

Though I do like the bit at the end where there watching car versions of all the Pixar movies.

[ShyGuy]

Pixar movies are still miles better than 99% of other CGI cartoon movies that have flooded the theaters in recent years.

[NWR_pap64]

I absolutely loved Cars.

True, the story was weak, the characters stereotypical and it dragged in places, but I enjoyed all 2 hours of it. They were able to breathe authentic life into cars. The characters, despite being stereotypes, were very fun, especially Mater. It also had some funny scenes and it had heart.

Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc. are still my all time favorite Pixar movies, but Cars comes very close.

As for Cars the game, I enjoyed it. It wasn't something very amazing or unforgettable, but I enjoyed it as a Cars sequel. The gameplay was simple, but fun. What I loved doing the most, though, was crashing Lightning, then hearing him scream. This is the first game where the car you drive will actually scream in pain. I also LOVE crashing onto the other cars, then hearing them complain. My favorite so far is Flo's...

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH WHIPLASH!!!!!"